Photo courtesy of Peter Bennett
Last week, California came a big step closer to finalizing rules that will ensure that new oil and gas wells are at least 3,200 feet away from the places its residents live, work, and play.
This first-of-its-kind draft rule is one of the longest setback distances in the nation, and will help guard Californian communities from toxic pollution from oil and gas wells. That’s a big deal because drilling releases pollutants that cause a host of health problems, including asthma, cancers, pregnancy complications, and preterm births. Millions of Californians -- disproportionately those that are Black and Latinx -- live near operational wells, and are exposed to this pollution every day.
I have firsthand experience of just how harmful fossil fuel pollution can be. Like millions of Californians, my family lives beside oil and gas wells. I have lost several family members, including my grandmother and cousin, to diseases that can be caused by the toxic pollutants emitted by oil and gas wells. No one should live through the heartbreak of watching their loved ones struggle for their lives, simply because they grew up in a neighborhood where oil drilling was allowed to take place. Rules like the one California recently announced will safeguard our communities and help ensure that our neighborhoods are no longer sacrifice zones, but safe and healthy places for our families to thrive.
The drilling setback draft rule is the end result of five years of organizing by the Sierra Club and many movement partners, including the California Environmental Justice Alliance, VISION, Center for Action on Race, Poverty, and the Environment, and Physicians for Social Responsibility Los Angeles. We repeatedly called on Governor Newsom to establish stronger setback rules to protect frontline communities. This announcement is a major first step from CalGEM in developing more stringent mandates against toxic oil and gas production.
CalGem's new draft rule is encouraging, but does not go far enough in protecting vulnerable Californians from harmful fossil fuel production. It only applies to new oil and gas sites, not existing locations, nor to rework permits, which allow an oil company to redrill an existing well to get more oil from it, and make up the bulk of permits in California neighborhoods. And ultimately, there is no safe distance from the effects of oil and gas extraction: We must phase out neighbrohood drilling entirely and make a just transition to clean energy.
“We’re ready to carry this rule home and make sure it actually accomplishes what we need it to accomplish: the end of neighborhood oil and gas drilling,” said Neena Mohan, Climate Justice Manager with the California Environmental Justice Alliance. “If the final rule doesn’t do that, then it’s not enough. Black, Indigenous, Latinx and Asian immigrant communities deserve neighborhoods free from air, water and soil pollution. We know today’s announcement of 3,200 foot setbacks for frontline communities is just a first, critical step.”